Plant air purifiers have been on the market for almost twenty years. While they successfully remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs), they have largely not caught on in the consumer and commercial marketplace. This is because they are not user friendly and require constant daily care. Failure to provide such care can result in the system quickly breaking down and the plant(s) therein dying in only a matter of hours. For example, when a portable plant air purifier was placed in a FEMA trailer, it lowered the formaldehyde level from 180 ppb to 30 ppb in just a few days. But at the same time, because the inhabitants of the trailer did not provide adequate water and light to the plant, the plants within the purifier all but died. Thus, there exists a real need to provide plant air purifier which are configured and controlled for very easy maintenance, replacement, use, with minimal time and attention required by the user.
When plants grow in the wild, nature attends to all their needs. Further they do not grow in an artificial soil. They do not have great volumes of air passing through the soil (as they do with a plant air purifier which makes use of air passage through the soil as part of the purification process), drying it out, and so do not require great volumes of water each day to replenish the moisture lost. In order for a portable plant air purifier to perform well it must have mechanisms that automatically attend to the plant's needs with minimal user intervention, or the plant within the plant air purifier cannot be expected to live given the rapid diminishment of moisture resulting from air passing through the soil. Without a living and healthy plant, plant air purifiers cannot effectively be expected to continue to clean the air. Nor will the microorganisms that live in the filter, which bio-regenerate the filter and have a symbiotic relationship with the plants therein, thrive for any length of time.
In addition, for the filter bed within a plant air purifier unit to operate at its most effective level, it must be kept evenly saturated whenever moisture levels drop. Otherwise the microorganisms which live and thrive within that filter bed will not be able to travel throughout that bed and the filter bed will not be bio-regenerated. Specifically, as the filter bed fills with toxic material, it becomes less and less effective and eventually has to be replaced. Lack of moisture within the filter bed leads to eventual saturation of the filter bed with toxins and if the filter bed is not then replaced it spews those toxins into the air, adding further to poor indoor quality air, rather than providing a cure. Further, without sufficient moisture, the filter bed's wet scrubbing ability is greatly reduced and air purification suffers. The moisture needs of plants and plant beds in a plant air purifier with air forced through the soil greatly exceed those of natural or artificial plants and plant beds, and must be properly accommodated by affirmative measure.
Many plant air purifiers rely on wicking or capillary action, where the filter bed wicks up moisture from below, to address the system's moisture needs. Unfortunately, if a plant air purifier is operating on a 24/7 basis, capillary action is simply not fast enough or efficient enough with most artificial or soilless growing matter in the filter bed to attend to a plant air purifier's replenishing moisture needs. So, either the unit must be disabled for quite a number of hours a day, or another method of moisturization must be found, such as using micro irrigation from above with a micro-irrigation system. Specifically, as disclosed in the priority documents referenced above and incorporated here by reference, top down micro irrigation greatly enhances the air purification ability of a portable plant air purifier. Presently no portable plant air purification system appears to use top down micro-irrigation to take care of the plant's and the filter bed's needs.
As things stand now, most plant air purifiers are purchased by people and organizations residing in heavily congested and polluted environments. These urban purchasers are not used to taking care of plants, and definitely not used to taking care of plants in a plant air purifier which requires far more water than a normal plant would require—as much as two quarts of water a day. Very few city dwellers have what is known as a “green thumb.” They are very liable to forget the needs of their plants save when such attention is absolutely required and this should not exceed more once a week. They need a plant air purifier which, in effect, takes care of all the plant's needs on “auto-pilot.” Further, if people are placed in a stressful environment such as a FEMA trailer referenced above, they barely can take care of themselves, let alone take care of plants. Thus, many of the tasks required to take care of a plant must be automated and the purifier which contains them must have a reservoir sufficient to handle the watering needs of a plant for an entire week. This means that the reservoir should have capacity for three gallons of water, or more.
When, eventually, the water does run low, the user has to be alerted immediately and the air moving mechanism needs to be automatically disabled to conserve what little water remains in both the filter bed and in the plant itself, and the air moving mechanism should not be reactivated again until water in the reservoir is replenished. Alerting the user that the unit needs water can be done with a buzzer, a warning light, or both, or any signaling device known to someone of ordinary skill which is discernable to the user's sensory perceptions. But it is possible that the water might run low at night, in which case one does not want the buzzer to sound and wake up the user. So when, e.g., a moisture sensor within the reservoir or water level sensor in the reservoir senses that the water is low, a light level sensor, e.g., photometer should determine if the room has adequate light, or a clock should determine the time of day (and optionally day of the week) and whether the time is suitable for sounding an alarm (with a suitable time range preferably predetermined by the user). If it is not an appropriate time to sound an audible alarm, only the warning light should go on. And when there is adequate light in the room, say in the morning, or when a suitable time is reached, than the buzzer can go on.
Secondly, in addition to water, the plant air purifier must be capable of properly controlling the lighting requirements of the plant if there is not sufficient ambient light available. Thus there needs to be a grow light which goes on automatically at certain times of the day and/or in response to light levels sensed (including certain required light frequencies) if there is not sufficient light available.
In addition it is senseless to have the plant air purifier operating when no one is in the environment where the purifier is located. It should only operate when needed, and otherwise, it should just grow the plant normally, without circulating air through the soil, and with light provided in a more natural cycle. But this requires a computerized control system with logic responsive to various sensory devices and/or timers which enable the control system to determine how the system should perform and activate and deactivate system components accordingly. In other words what is needed is a sophisticated smart plant air purifier. There is no such unit on the market today.
To be effective a plant air purifier should preferably be programmed to deactivate the air propulsion mechanism for propelling air through the filter bed (e.g., fan), when it on the verge of running out of water. It should preferably have an alarm both visual and audio which alert the user that more water is needed, if it does not have automatic refill capabilities connected to an external water supply. It should preferably be capable of providing light for the plant when and if it is needed. It should preferably use little energy and have parts which are easily replaceable. This includes easy insertion of new, mature, ready-to-purify plants when the unit is first deployed, and easy replacement of plants when a plan has died or when replacement is required for some other reason. It should preferably be programmable regarding when it is to operate and when not, and should preferably have a back up battery in case power to the unit is interrupted so the programmed settings are not erased. If it is not connected to an external water supply, it should preferably have a reservoir capable of storing at least a week's worth of water. As just noted, it is preferred to have a replaceable plant pot (e.g., a pot or tray or chamber, etc.) so that in case the plant or plants within need replacement a replacement plant in a replacement grow pot can easily be inserted. Plus, the plant pot used in the unit should preferably be one within which professional growers can grow one or more plants. By having a plant or plants already grown in a pot or tray which is actually used in the unit, the purchaser does not have to transplant a plant into the pot himself. If the user has to transplant a plant into the growing apparatus himself when he or she first purchases the unit, the plant transplanted will undergo unusual stress and it will require up to 6 weeks for it to fully acclimate. During this time a significantly high percentage of the plants so transplanted might well die, or at the very least the unit will not operate at maximum efficiency.
Up to the present time, no known unit has been available which attends to all these needs. Thus, the invention disclose herein is a sophisticated and smart plant air purifier with a control system (e.g., printed circuit board assembly) and with many devices connected to the control system, which meets all of the foregoing needs and others to be discussed herein.
Dr. B. C. Wolverton in the early 1990's developed a portable plant air purifier which used a hydro culture which cleaned the air with a filter bed which trapped airborne contaminants using plants and microbes therein. Both he and NASA used an induction fan to pull air through a filter bed of various materials. Results of such air purification cleaning are well documented. But little attention has been given to making sure that the average user of such a system will systematically provide the plants with just the right amount of water and light when needed and if this is not done the plants within the plant air purification unit will quickly die, thus severely limiting the plant air purifier's capabilities. See, for example,
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/dec/HQ—07285_Spinoff—2007.html, pages 60 and 61.
Wolverton's U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,437 shows a plant air purifier with what appears to be a horizontal filter bed surface, an induction fan, an adjustable grow light, a removable plant pot and a hat-like seal. Page 2, line 30-33 states: “The shape of the seal is a flat ring whose inside fits the outside of the planter. The later shape allows one to put the seal on the top of the planter.” But Wolverton's invention utilizes bottom-up irrigation through wicking and capillary action, which is far left effective than top down micro-irrigation. The lamp used by Wolverton is hot and destroys toxic airborne microbes. A LED lamp is a cool light with a temperature rarely higher than 90 degrees and would be much preferred. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,437 does not disclose, suggest or motivate any sort of “smart” control system to engage in the various functions discussed above to enable simple, automated operation of a plant air purifier. While U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,437 has a replaceable pot, it is disclosed, however, on page 4, line 55 that “[w]hen one wants to replace the plant, the whole planter 1 is replaced.” There is no teaching, suggestion or motivation for a system wherein growers might grow the original plant so that the plant becomes acclimated to a soilless medium over many weeks or months in advance, and the plant can be modularly inserted into a plant air purifier and placed into operation immediately with far greater effectiveness. As noted already, failure to have the plant growing for a period of time in the pot to be used within the purifier, or having it transplanted into the purifier pot, can lead in short order to plant stress and possibly plant death. Even if the plant survives it will not operate optimally for quite some time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,182 and pre-grant publication U.S. 2007/0058368, show lighting units which promote plant growth using LEDs of different wave lengths in different configurations. But neither discloses or suggests anything about LED grow lamps being used as part of a plant air purifier. Nor is there any discussion of the use of timers and how and when to use the lights. Rather, U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,182 talks about the arrangement of the different wavelength lights to be used, mentioning how in one case one unit has a first set of orange emitting lights of about 612 nm and a set of red emitting lights with a peak wavelength of about 660 nm, and then adding blue emitting lights. One talks about having the lights use red emitting diodes between 600-700 nm and the other having one or more blue LEDS having wavelengths of 400-520 nm within 1 to 10 inches from above the plant. The first makes use of diodes having an angle of direction of the light at 15 and 30 degrees. Or half the LEDS placed at double the angle of the other. The second uses optics but must have a heat sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,470 has a plant air purifier which pulls air down through a pipe, and has a sealed area so that air is expelled through the filter bed of a removable plant pot using a substrata with activated carbon in it. It also contains a statement that a water level switch can be connected to a blower. In this way as the water level decreases the output of the blower is increased [sic, should be decreased] until the blower is completely stopped and the device acts as a conventional hydro culture system.” Applicant's invention, as will be disclosed herein, shuts the fan off when the water content in the planter goes below a certain point but also has a buzzer and/or a light or other user-discernable signal that the water reservoir is low thus alerting the owner that the plant air purifier system needs water replacement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,923 uses a hot light bulb over which the air passes in a plant air purifier to both “provide sufficient light for plant growth and aesthetics through indirect lighting on the plant's leaves.” In the same patent it says that preferably the lights have a significant thermal output so that a heated region around each light bulb serves to significantly reduce any residual microbes. The light is preferably an incandescent or a grow lamp shining upward onto the plant. Passing air, preferably downward though such media and back into the air under hot light bulbs destroys undesirable airborne mold spores (page 2, lines 65-8). The light bulbs may also supply sufficient light for plant growth and/or for aesthetics through indirect lighting of the plant leaves (Page 3, lines 51-3). The container 2 is shown as having a bottom clean air outlet chamber 12 within which is placed a fan 14, electrically motor driven, and controlled by a timer (page 3, 54-57) (the timer does not show in the figures). The light's radiation emissions, and a combination of heat emitted by an incandescent bulb or any ultraviolet light as may be emitted by the growth lamp, serves to significantly reduce any residual microbes or spores emitted in the cleansed or humidified air Applicant's invention, in contrast, utilizes LEDS which have a relatively low heat level and in almost all cases does not make use of an incandescent bulb which is inefficient. It also has a fan controlled by a computerized control system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,923 does not provide for the ability to differentiate between week days and weekends of use. Plus it has an annular water reservoir chamber which is approximately the lower half to two thirds of the plant growth pot which decreases the frequency with which water must be added to the pot. This patent deals with a portable plant air purifier where moisture is gotten to the filter bed from the reservoir via capillary water flow therefrom. The present invention uses a pump and than a micro irrigation system with emitters that soak the filter bed from the top down.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,017 discloses with a plant air purifier with an external and removable water reservoir which can be of any size. The water reservoir bottle is such that it is easy to turn it over for insertion into the planter. Water rises in the grow pot from the bottom up through capillary action along with the suction of the root system. The lamp utilized in this invention is to heat the air and cause the air to rise. The invention disclosed here has an internal water reservoir, and also uses a mechanical air propulsion mechanism rather than heat to bring about air movement.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,091 discloses a plant wall where plants are grown so that the plants grow up the wall and the roots are inserted into a fibrous material. Water from a reservoir is pumped up a pipe and the water system is designed to deliver water evenly across the width of the matrix panel whereby water trickles down evenly over the entire matrix panel. Basically the filter bed has its top near the ceiling and its bottom near the floor. This is further verified by the fact that the patent says “The plants should be such that they root evenly through the matrix panel 32 and will support themselves physically with their roots embedded in a near-vertical matrix panel.” (Page 7, lines 18-21) Surely this system could have more than 3 gallons of water in it. The filter bed of U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,091 is not on a horizontal plane or close thereto. Additionally, one would infer from FIG. 1 that the unit has a water intake port which would be connected to the indoor plumbing. Makeup water appears to be supplied through water intake port 42. (Page 6, lines 39-40) “Periodically the water in the tank should be drained off (drain 45) and replaced with clean water” (Page 6, lines 54-55). However, there is no mention of automating the processes or of using a solenoid or a computerized control system which is programmed to deal with certain emergencies such as when water in the reservoir goes above a certain level or when to automatically open the drain. Further some of the units disclosed here are portable while in U.S. Pat. No. 6,727,091 they surely are not: “The unit 20 is intended to be mounted on a wall of the room in which the air is to be cleaned.” (Page 6, lines 65-66). The considerations required to effectively implement a portable system are somewhat different than those for a permanent system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,972 shows a plant growing apparatus which uses a lamp and plant and “soilless” soil to clean air. The overhead lamp with a post and hood uses a light, preferably a florescent light, so that a minimum amount of light is automatically or at least easily available (page 1, line 45). Light for the plant is provided by a lighting source preferably in the form of a florescent bulb (page 3, line 3-5). The light is supported by rods and the length of the rods may be adjusted as the plant grows in height (page 7, lines 1-3). The light is mounted in a hood. And, an integral annular inclined sidewall serves as a light shade (page 5 line 65). The lower shade need not be used (page 6, line 30). The unit does not have an induction fan but uses the heat of the light to draw air upwards. Specifically on page 4 line 65 onward it says “The evaporation of moisture from the top of the growing medium, the heat of the lamp and the nature of the growing medium cause air and moisture to rise through the growing medium and to be exhausted into the room.” In U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,972 as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,923, heat from the lamp is being utilized to cause the air to rise. The present disclosure uses a mechanical air moving device. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,923, an induction fan is used and heat is used to kill off micro organisms. The present disclosure uses a cool lamp which is far more efficient and which saves markedly on energy and which is much more “plant friendly.” In U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,972, “[w]ater from the wet chamber is wicked upwards” (page 4, line 22). Claim 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,972 recites one of its elements being “a removable receptacle for holding the soilless medium and having a mesh bottom through which roots may grow into the wet chamber to obtain moisture and a dry compartment into which other roots are exposed to air.” The present disclosure does not utilize a wet and dry chamber. Moisture is obtained through the micro irrigation system which flows down through gravity through the filter bed in which the plant and its roots are situated or in one embodiment has a micro irrigation system of irrigation and a wicking up from water within the plant pot. In this patent the preferred and illustrated bottle 18 provides enough moisture for one week for most plants (page 5, lines 14-15). Preferably, a light timer 66 is connected to an electric cord 68 for the light assembly and is set to control the duration and the time at which the bulb 25 is lighted (page 5, lines 16-19).
U.S. 2005/0186108 discloses a bio-air sterilization system using UV light. Deactivation may be dependent on a prescheduled time by use of an optional timer or an alternate method may be used (page 5, paragraph 51). It also has a motion sensor to shut off the (second) UV light. This publication is not for a plant air purifier.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,559 discloses a manner of mounting a circuit board in a confined space and in particular in a portable air purifier unit. However, no mention has been made of what functions the circuit board is designed to control or what devices are attached to the circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,736, in the abstract, appears to disclose a portable air purifier where an air purifier (10) is provided having a housing (11), having a grilled air inlet (12), a grilled air outlet (13) and a controlled panel (14). The air purifier (10) also includes a pre filter (16), a main filter (17), a blower (18) and a controller (19) all mounted within the housing (11). The controller (19) has a central processing unit having a permanent memory for storing the program instructions for operations and control of the air purifier, a working memory, and a non-volatile memory for the permanent storage of programs and counters. Additionally, the program may include multiple days so that different days have different scheduled programs or different groupings of days such as the same set of programs for Monday through Friday and a different set of programs for Saturdays and Sundays. (Page 2 lines 65-67 and Page 3, lines 1-2) This disclosure includes a controller, key pad and programmable processing unit for an air purifier which performs a range of different, but coordinated functions.
There appears to be no prior art where a photometer was used to activate a grow lamp and surely not a grow lamp mounted on a plant air purifier. No prior art is apparent in which a control system of any sophistication is utilized in a plant air purifier.